Our Research identity is profoundly marked by established strength in East-West Humanities. What is distinctive about our approach to research is that our disciplines are all generally informed by ‘comparison,’ such as a regional perspective of how Asian cultures compare to one another, or a globally comparative view of how Asian cultures interact with Western ones. We have particular strength in research balancing national and transnational perspectives, as well as cosmopolitan and postcolonial ones. While upholding our traditional emphasis upon breadth in our programmes and research, we distinguish ourselves through our excellence in certain ‘pillars of strength’ such as linguistics, literatures, history, visual art and musicology.